Jack Moulthrop • American: 1921-2014

Cartel C: 1996 • Clay 14.5” x 20” x 20”

Jack Moulthrop was his father’s son. Architects are often described as “part engineer, part artist.” Their buildings need both structure and beauty. So, it was not at all surprising to find out that Jack Moulthrop’s father was an architect, as was his older brother who was also a world-renowned wood turner. It seems a Moulthrop gene causes people to look at art in much the same way we look at buildings. Both their shape and skin intrigue us.

The best buildings often make us say, “How’d they do that?” The same can be said of a Moulthrop vessel. Most of his pieces are oddly-shaped vessels that defy ceramic traditions. In fact, Moulthrop designed special, patented tools to create his ellipsoid, global and ovoid shapes. These particular shapes were important to him because they “maximize the surface area, thus enlarging opportunity for pattern.” He used to think of them as “architectural accent energizers.”

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For Jack Moulthrop art was a self-taught second career and mirrored the meticulous, mechanical nature of his first, spent working with electric motors. His early ceramic works were based on Pre-Columbian pots and decorated with images from Mayan, Peruvian, Aztec and southwestern native art. His later works turned toward modern forms, colors and designs executed in precise geometric lines. Each is detailed in the way only a true craftsman would work, with special care given to the finish of every line and detailing around every opening.

Moulthrop lived long enough to see his large ceramic vessels land in the Permanent Collections of the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus and the Canton Museum of Art, a fitting tribute to a man who walked the line between craftsman and artist. Never falling in only one direction.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Gift of Patrica Zinsmeister Parker and Esidore Parker, 2011.5

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“Both his brothers were renowned wood turners and their bowls are similar in shape to much of Jack Moulthrop’s work.”

2.
“Ceramics was actually a second career for Moulthrop. The first part of his life was spent working with large electric motors.”

3.
“His father and older brother were successful architects. It seems the family treasured both structure and creativity.”

4.
“He lived in the same city, Lyndhurst, Ohio, his entire life and was married to the same woman for over 70 years. You might say he was ‘steady’.”

Moulthrop Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1921

Born in Lyndhurst, Ohio, to Ray and Jetta Moulthrop. His father was a local Cleveland architect with an artistic bent. His older brother, Ed, became a well-known architect and world-renowned wood turner in Atlanta, Georgia. Many of his wooden bowls are in museums. Another brother, Phillip, became a museum mammalogist and was also a well-known wood turner.

1943

Graduated from The Ohio State University.

1944

Married Virginia Brandt who remained his wife for over 70 years.

1943-45

Served in Europe during World War II with U.S. Army.

1945-1978

Built a career working with large electric motors. Dabbled in pottery, through reading and experimentation.

1978-2014

Worked as a full-time ceramicist, building a studio in his Lyndhurst home. Many of his pieces were large ellipsoids or obloids and were unable to be built using traditional potters wheels. Moulthrop invented special tools to continue his increasingly modernistic works.

2014

Died at the Hospice of the Western Reserve. He was a lifelong resident of Lyndhurst, Ohio.